Budweiser Project Twelve Batch No. 23185 Light Amber

This is part of Project Twelve from Budweiser. Budweiser had their brewmasters at all 12 of their U.S. breweries come up with a special recipe, but all had to use the same Budweiser proprietary yeast. They cut these twelve selections down to six internally, then down to the three in the Project 12 special release by public tastings over the summer: a deep gold lager, an amber lager, and a bourbon barrel aged lager. People can vote on which is their favorite, and I then suspect we will then see a wider and more sustained release of that favorite. The batch numbers correspond to the zip code of the brewery that came up with the recipe. 63118 is St. Louis, Missouri; 23185 is Williamsburg, Virginia; and 91406 is Los Angeles, California.

This 5.5% ABV beer is a light amber lager that is aged on bourbon staves and uses vanilla beans. The beer pours amber and a light burnt orange in color. There is a short head of white to light off-white foam. The aroma is extremely light, almost undetectable, just a light general maltiness. The taste is also nearly indiscernible, a light general maltiness, with merely the idea of vanilla and bourbon, but not really their presence. It is like the thought of a ghost of the flavor, rather than the real flavor itself. That any beer could put vanilla and bourbon staves in its description and have this little flavor should be a crime. There is a general bitterness and unpalatable sweetness in the aftertaste.